One of the easiest treats to dress up for holidays and birthdays is the cupcake.
All you need is food coloring, cake decorator gel and frosting, and a little
imagination.
You will need:
your favorite box cake, any flavor
chocolate icing (recipe below)
green decorator gel
green decorator frosting
green & white sprinkles
green sugar
cupcake liners
Prepare cake mix as directed. If desired, you can make green cupcakes by adding
a few drops of green food coloring to a prepared white mix. Put cupcake liners
into muffin tin and fill liners as directed on box cake mix. Bake as directed
and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting and decorating.
Prepare the chocolate icing by following the recipe below.
Chocolate Icing
6 tbsp butter or margarine
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 2/3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
Cream butter and vanilla in a small bowl with mixer and medium-low speed. Mix
until completely creamed together. Alternating, add cocoa and confectioner's
sugar, beating at medium speed until creamy. Add some of the milk with the
remaining sugar and cocoa until you reach desired consistency. You will use all
the cocoa and sugar, but may not use all the milk, depending on your desired
consistency. Set aside.
Decorate
That's really not much to decorating cupcakes, especially in the eyes of your
admiring children. Just a dollop of frosting is artistic enough for them! Here
are a few simple tips that will help you decorate your holiday cupcakes.
Sprinkles - Open the container, hold frosted cupcake upside down and dip into
the sprinkles. Another option is to roll the outer edge of the cupcake in the
sprinkles.
Sugar - Using decorator sugar, follow the same instructions as the sprinkles.
The green sugar creates a sparkling blanket effect that is very eye catching! It
almost appears to be velvety.
Decorator Gel - Use gel to draw on a shamrock. Shamrocks are simple, think of
them as three heart shapes, all three meeting in the middle with their bottom
tips. Then simply add a stem.
Combinations - Roll the edges in sprinkles and dip the center in sugar, or vice
versa. Or dip edge and decorate center with gel.
Variations
Another option is to make white icing and tint it green. Try our homemade
buttercream frosting and decorator tips from our Valentine cupcake feature.
Be sure to store your cupcakes in a tightly covered container so they do not
harden or go stale. That is, if they last that long!
Amanda Formaro is the entrepreneurial mother of four children. She is also the
owner of FamilyCorner.com Magazine. Subscribe to her free weekly kid's craft
newsletter, Busy Little Hands, by sending any email message to
kidscrafts-on@mail-list.com or by visiting her website.
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